Chapter 49
Chapter Forty-Nine
Easton
Tanner got through his first cold like a Bailey. He was a little whiny but pulled through by making sure Hadley and I knew how horrible it was for him.
Hadley went to coffee with her friend Honor this morning, and she’s due back anytime so that I can get to the field for the game.
Tanner is busy pulling himself up on every surface, and I’ve spent the whole morning watching him and trying to install some childproofing stuff around the condo.
I never thought I’d restrict my kid to a certain area, but it turns out my condo isn’t babyproofed in the least.
My phone dings.
Hadley: I’m gonna be late. I asked Penelope to watch Tanner so you can get to the game. Sorry I can’t give you a good luck kiss. (kissing emoji).
“I think she’s crazy, buddy. She thinks she can tell me she’s late and not give me a reason why.”
Tanner lets out a sound I’ll take as an agreement.
How long will you be? I can wait a bit.
I have no idea. That’s the problem. I might have to meet Penelope at the game.
Hadley, what’s going on?
I’m good. You go and have a great game.
You do know I’m not going to stop harassing you until you fess up.
… I don’t want to tell you.
Now you have to tell me.
“She’s keeping something from us, little man,” I say to Tanner, who is too enthralled with his new toy to care what I have to say.
I was on my way home in an Uber and there was a little fender bender. I’m fine though.
Sorry? Fender bender.
A moving truck might have hit my Uber.
I bolt to my feet, and Tanner turns to look at me. My heartbeat is like a bass drum in my chest.
Might have or did?
Did. I’m perfectly fine. It’s just all precaution.
What is precaution?
No answer.
Hadley…
The three dots appear and disappear, and my chest gets tight as panic sets in.
Had?
The doorbell rings, and I rush to the door, opening it to find Penelope. She walks right in with a smile. Does she not know that Hadley could be on a stretcher right now on her way to having lifesaving surgery?
“Hey, I’m here for Tanner.” She goes into the family room, her face lighting up. “How about me and you have some fun?” she says to him, then turns to me. “Did you pack his bag?”
“Mom!” Hazel comes through the still-open door. “Oh hey, Easton.” She gives me a fleeting look. “Tanner!” She climbs into the hexagon fencing thing I bought to keep him contained. “Why is he in jail?”
Penelope laughs and looks at me, and when she sees I’m staring at my phone waiting for a text back, she laughs again.
I frown. “What are you laughing at?”
“She told me it’s fine, but she has to deal with the ambulance and police. You know how it goes.” Penelope waves me off.
Ambulance? Police? And she thinks that’s gonna calm me?
She has to be fucking kidding me.
“Where is she?”
Penelope shrugs. “She said they’d just pulled out from the coffee place.”
I rack my brain trying to remember whether Hadley told me the name of the coffee place she was meeting Honor at.
“You better get going. Decker just left.” She nods toward the door. “You’ll be late. Hazel and I have this handled.”
She smiles at where Hazel is in the hexagon, playing with Tanner.
Go to your game. I’m good.
Tell me where you are.
No.
No?
(a pic of her smiling at the scene) See? All good.
I scan the picture, zooming in, and I see two letters on a sign to her right. “HE”
“Hero’s,” I say.
“The best bagels, right? She got me hooked on them.” Penelope smiles again.
Of course she’d meet her friend there.
I grab my bag off the floor and rush over to give Tanner a kiss. “Thanks, Penelope.”
“You’re going to her, aren’t you?” she asks.
“Yep.” I stalk toward the door.
“You’re going to be late.”
“Where is he going, Mom?”
She laughs. “To make sure his princess is safe.”
I wave as my answer, sprinting out of the condo and down the steps, pushing through the security gate, and interrupting three women leaving notes.
“Kodiak!” one of them shouts. “We’ll make it quick.” Her friends laugh. “A little good luck before your game.”
I flip them off.
“You’re off my list,” I hear her say from behind me.
Good.
I jog down the street until I find a taxi and flag it down. Once I’m seated in the back of the cab, I fire off a message to Hadley.
I’m coming.
My foot taps, my knee bouncing and my phone is tight in my palm.
“You’re Easton Bailey, right?” the driver asks.
I nod, anxious to get there and see that she’s okay with my own eyes.
“You have a game today. Why are you going the opposite way of the stadium?”
“Just have an errand to do.” I stare through the windshield, wishing I could fly over this fucking game-day traffic.
“Well, good luck today. Tough series, but you never miss a ball. Have you ever had an offseason?” He continues talking.
I don’t want to be rude, especially since the guy is a fan, but my mind is only on one thing—or person. Hadley.
The closer we get, the more traffic we encounter, and I assume it’s from her accident, so I pay the cab driver and get out. He wishes me luck another time, and I duck my head to say a quick thank you.
I run down the street, hating that I forgot my hat since I’m passing fans wearing my fucking jersey, so of course they recognize me. Some people try to stop me, but I shake my head or just plain ignore them. After today, I’ll be rumored to be an asshole for sure.
I have no choice but to stop at a traffic light for a crosswalk, and that’s when I see the moving truck that hit the passenger-side back door of a sedan.
My stomach rolls over as I scan the area, searching for Hadley and coming up empty until I see her sitting on the edge of an ambulance just behind the moving truck.
I bolt, a car honks, and I press on the hood and jump back before almost getting run over.
“Hey, asshole, you almost ran over Easton Bailey,” a fan shouts from the sidewalk.
“Well, he shouldn’t walk into traffic,” the driver shouts back.
I weave between the cars trying to turn right and make it to the other side without getting run over. The airbag on the passenger side of the Uber car has gone off, and the side of the car is crushed in.
She better have been behind the driver.
I jog toward the ambulance and see the paramedic working on her hand. I break the distance and weave around the paramedic.
“East,” she says. “You have a game.”
The paramedic glances at me. “Easton Bailey?”
I ignore him and allow my eyes to scan over her body. “Where are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine.”
But I need to see it for myself.
“It’s going to bruise, but she’ll be fine,” the paramedic says.
I place my hands on her face, turning her face side to side and examining her again.
“East.” She searches my face.
“Let the man make sure his woman is okay,” the paramedic says.
Finally someone who gets it.
I glance at his badge. “Bianco. I’ll have two tickets at will call for you.”
He laughs. “I’ve got two brothers, can we make it three?” I quirk an eyebrow, and he chuckles. “One of them is going to ask your wife for a statement in a second, and the other was the first to arrive at the scene.”
“The firefighter?” Hadley asks.
I narrow my eyes at her, and she laughs.
“Three brothers. Me, a firefighter, and a police officer. And we’re all very happily married with kids.” He winks at Hadley, and she laughs. “But I get it. If I saw a hot paramedic like me touching my wife, I’d be the same.”
“I’m not jealous.” Though my tone makes it sound as though maybe I am.
The paramedic packs up a few things. “Okay.” He walks away, giving us some privacy.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I pull her into a hug, needing to feel her in my arms. “I saw the car and thought…and you were being so uninformative.” I draw back and glare at her.
She smiles. “Because I’m fine and you have to get to the stadium.”
“They can play without me.” My heart hasn’t stopped hammering since I saw that car.
“No, they can’t. Now go.”
She pushes at me, but I hug her again. Until a police officer comes over and asks for a statement. Lo and behold, the same name is on his nameplate as the paramedic, Bianco.
She answers the questions, and I write my number on the back of his business card, telling him to let me know when he and his brothers want to go to a game.
Hadley really is okay, and the truth is, I don’t even want to go to the game after this scare. I just want to hold her and touch her and keep her safe.
When we get back to the condo, we stop at the security gate. I push a strand of her hair from her face. “You’re really okay?”
“East, I’m fine. GO!”
I kiss her, allowing my lips to linger on hers.
Then she pushes me away. “Go.”
I step back. “We’re picking that up when I’m done rocking it on the field today. Making plays that make you hot.” I wink, and she smiles at me.
“A double play might do it.”
“Maybe a home run.” I continue walking backward, not wanting her out of my sight.
“Watch out.” She points behind me where a big swarm of Colts fans are about to swallow me up.
“Until tonight,” I say.
“Until tonight.”
I turn and sprint away, heading to the player entrance, an apology for Ripley prepared in my head.
I get to the locker room, and Ripley isn’t happy. The team’s already dressed in their uniforms. I missed all the warm-ups and batting practice, and I’m probably going to get benched, but it was worth it.
“Where were you?” Hayes asks.
“Hadley was in a car accident.” I go to my locker and strip out of my street clothes.
“Is she okay?” Hayes asks.
“She is, but it was the scariest thing ever. I mean, I thought she was really hurt.”
My buddies all look at one another and turn back to me.
“What?” I ask, pulling up my pants and fastening them and my belt.
“I hear wedding bells,” Hayes says.
“They already rang, remember?” Foster deadpans.
“Leave it to Kodiak to say I do before I love you,” Decker says.
I stand with my jersey half buttoned.
Love. Fuck. That’s a big word. Is that what this is?